A Software Defined Radio (“SDR”) is a programmable and reconfigurable system that provides a flexible and scaleable architecture. Such a radio system typically supports many different communication waveforms, thus facilitating improved communications among users, such as government agencies and government services. An SDR typically comprises a single hardware platform that can carry out many functions based on the software applications loaded therein. The SDR uses the installed software applications to perform radio signal processing functions. Frequency tuning, filtering, synchronization, encoding and modulation are performed in software on high-speed reprogrammable devices (e.g., Digital Signal Processors (“DSPs”), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (“FPGAs”) and General Purpose Processors (“GPPs”)).
At the center of SDR technology is the software architecture on which the radios must be built and communication protocols implemented. Many proprietary architectures exist, but to ensure portability and interoperability of the protocols on the different radios, an open architecture was developed. The open architecture is referred to as a Software Communications Architecture (“SCA”). SCA comprises a set of specifications describing the interaction between the different software and hardware components of a radio and providing software commands for their control. Accordingly, the SCA is an open architecture framework that specifies how hardware and software components are to interoperate so that different manufacturers and developers can readily integrate the respective components into a single device.